Improvement in boots and shoes



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N-PETERS, PMUTGLITHGGRAPHR, WASHINGTON, u CA UNITED STATES PATENTOFFICE.

PHILANDER SHAW, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT IN BOOTS AND SHOES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 38,766, dated June 2,1863; antedated October 18, 1862.

To @ZZ whom, t may concern.-

Be it known that I, PHILANDER SHAW, of Boston, in the county of Suffolkand State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new andusefnllmprovements in the Manufacture of Boots and Shoes 5 and I dohereby declare that the following, taken in connection with the drawingsthat accompany and form part of this specication, is a description of myinvention so full and exact as to enable those skilled in the art topractice it.

My invention consists, iirst, in a new article of manufacture-viz., aboot or shoe in which a flexible upper is united with a sole made whollyor in part of compressed wood; and, second, in a detail of themanufacture, by which the upper and the whole or a fractional. part ofthe sole of compressed wood are united.

Figures 1 and 2 are respectively a side view and plan of a shoeembodying my invention. Fig. 3 shows a section taken vertically andlongitudinally through the shoe, and Fig. 4 shows a cross-section takenthrough the shank part of the shoe.

In construction in accordance with my invention the inner sole, a, isrst temporarily fixed upon the last, and the upper b drawn over the lastand secured to the inner sole. A metallic plate, c, of the propercurvature and outline is then placed upon the upper, where it is drawnover the inner sole, and the plate is then faitened to the inner soleand upper by small nails which are driven through the parts and clinchedin the inner sole. Holes are made through the metallic plate for thereception of the nails or screws employed to secure the outer sole ofcompressed wood, or any part thereof, to the body ofthe shoe.

Where the Wooden sole extends only under the heel and shank to the ballof the foot, leaving the remainder ot' the sole to be formed of someflexible material to prevent that degree of rigidity which is possessedby a shoe having its sole entirely of compressed Wood, the constructionillustrated in Fig. 3 is that Which I prefer to any other. It will beseen in the said figure that the metallic plate eX- tends beyond thewooden part of the sole toward the toe ofthe shoe.-

The first lift of the flexible part of the sole is beveled, and nailedacross the shoe through the plate c into the inner sole; or, ifthe'iiexible part of the sole be made of a single thickness, then theend thereofis notched, as illustrated, and the inside bevel of the solenailed, as before described.

The wooden portionof the sole is beveled, as shown, to correspond to thebeveling of the iiexible part of the sole, and the outer part of thelatter is united to the rigid part of the sole by nails or by screws, asshown.

While wood for the sole may be compressed in any suitable way, I preferto prepare the Wooden portion ot' the sole under and in accordance withthe process patented to me on the 15th day of May, A. D. 1860, as woodthus prepared will not change its form materially, and will answer therequirements of hardness and impermeability desirable in a sole, whilewood in an uncompressed state is utterly unfit to be used in the solesof boots and shoes.

I claim- 1. As anew article of manufacture, a boot or a shoe which ismade of atlexible upper united with a sole composed whollyr or in partof compressed wood.

2. The combined arrangement, operating substantially as shown anddescribed, of the metallic plate c with the Whole or a portion of thesole, when made of compressed wood.

PHILANDER SHAW.

Witnesses:

J. B. CEosBY, H. D. Oseoon.

